Combined folding fan and advertising device



Nov. 23, 1954 v. w. FRANCIS, JR 2,694,873 COMBINED FOLDING FAN AND ADVERTISING DEVICE F'iled Nov. 29, 1%50 ADDETZGNAL ADVERUSENG THE L01 GMAN P I SHQRT PRICES A MAINS". '1"

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ATTOR EX United States Patent COMBINED FOLDING FAN AND ADVERTISING DEVICE 6 Claims. (Cl. 4067) My invention relates to a combined folding fan and advertising device.

It is an object of my invention to provide such a fan with a window, which will preferably open through the face of the fan, and which will have a plurality of messages exposed through the same.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a folding fan having a novel and attention-attracting movable message-changing shutter in a window in its normally viewed face panel.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent as the description of the form in which I have reduced my invention to practice, proceeds.

In the drawings, which illustrate a preferred form of the invention and in which like reference characters refer to the same parts thruout the several views:

Fig. 1 is a front elevational view of the folded fan.

Fig. 2 is a rear elevational view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the opened fan.

The drawings disclose a preferred form of my combined fan and advertising device. The fan proper comprises four panels of cardboard or equivalent material: a front panel 1 and a rear panel 2, both of which are relatively immovable, and two intermediate oppositely swingable panels 3 and 4.

The front and rear panels 1 and 2 may be identical in size and shape, which shape is roughly that of a conventional church-bell inverted; or the rear panel 2 may be terminated short of the top of the fan, as for example at the broken line 5 in Fig. 2.

The two lateral panels 3 and 4 have the same general pattern as the front panel 1, but differ therefrom and from each other in several important respects, which are of the essence of my invention.

The panels 3 and 4 may have oppositely disposed pullout tabs or cars 3a and 4a for grasping between the thumbs and fingers of a user in opening the device. Or said tabs may be omitted and the fan may be provided with other means for opening the same. Such another means could be the squeeze-to-open fan-construction described and claimed in a copending application of Paul Raymond Francis, No. 196,651, filed November 20, 1950, and issued January 8, 1952, as Patent No. 2,581,643, and assigned to the assignee of this application.

The four panels are held assembled by two eyelets or hollow rivets 6 and 7 passing through mating holes in the panels and being outwardly flanged over against the faces of the front and rear panels. The holes in all four panels snugly embrace the cylindrical part of eyelet 7, but loosely enough so that panels 3 and 4 can pivot thereabout in swinging from open-fan to folded-fan positions. The eyelet 6 engages circular holes in the front and rear panels, and arc-shaped slots 3d and 4d in panels 3 and 4, which extend for about 45 (as disclosed) about eyelet 7 as a center. The ends of said slots engage the eyelet 6 to form stops for limiting the movement of the lateral panels between the two extreme positions of Figs. 1 and 3.

The advertising part of my device comprises a window or opening 8 formed in the space between the eyelets 6 and 7. Said window may be provided with a framing 9 printed or otherwise imposed upon the panel 1 and surrounding the opening 8. The opening and frame may be designed to simulate any display or message-conveying device, such as, for example, a television screen, a billboard, or a bulletin board, etc., and may take any conventional shape of such devices. The panel 3 is provided With an opening 3b which extends from line 10 (Fig. 2) laterally and downwardly, and has such size and shape that when the panel 3 is in the opened-fan position said opening will substantially coincide with the window 8 (Fig. 3). The panel 4 has a similar opening 4b, the two panels being bilaterally symmetrical.

In the folded-fan position of the panels, message-carrying portions 30 and 4c of the panels 3 and 4, respectively, close half of the window 8, as will be apparent in Figs. 1 and 3. On the front face of the rear panel 2 and in alinement with said window there is a second message to be revealed through the three coinciding openings 8, 3b and 4b when the panels 3 and 4 are moved into openedfan position as shown in Fig. 3. Being on the rear panel (which does not move relative to the front panel) this second message is half-exposed by movement of each of the laterally swingable panels. Thus it would be possible to provide four diiferent messages by making the right and left halves of the folded-fan message mate with the left and right halves, respectively, of the rear-panel message. For example: the front panels could carry the two words Dress and Well; the rear panel could have Buy behind Dress and STYLISH behind Well; and the four messages would be: Dress Well, Buy Well, Dress STYLISH, and Buy STYLISH, as first no panel, then one, next the other, and finally both panels is/are moved from closed-fan to opened-fan positions.

From the above specification it is apparent that I have produced a new and useful combined fan and advertising device, but one which is obviously capable of considerable variation without departing from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims. For example, the windowcould open through the back panel, rather than the front panel, if desired.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A combined folding fan and advertising device comprising: a central body portion having parallel superimposed front and rear panels, two oppositely laterally swingable panels movable from a folded-fan position generally behind said front panel to an opened-fan position generally beside said front panel, pivot-forming means passing through alined openings in said panels near their lower extremities to hold said panels assembled and to form a pivot for said swingable panels, arcuate openings in said swingable panels, fastening means passing through said arcuate openings and through said front and rear panels, whereby said front and rear panels are held against relative movement and said swingable panels are movable about said pivot-forming means within limits determined by said arcuate openings, a window-like opening in one of said front and rear panels, and openings in each of said swingable panels of such size and shape that when said swingable panels are in opened-fan position said window-like opening is substantially entirely unobstructed by said swingable panels but is substantially entirely closed by said swingable panels in their closed-fan positions, said panels being of such relative size and construction that the fully opened fan has an area of the order of double that of the fully closed fan.

2. A combined folding fan and advertising device according to claim 1 and in which said window-like opening is approximately equally covered by each of said swingable panels, whereby the folded-fan message-carrying area in said opening would be equally divided therebetween and whereby the opened-fan message-carrying area exposed by movement of said swingable panels would be equally exposed by movement of each thereof, whereby by selectively moving none, the left, the right, or both of said swingable panels four different messages can be presented in said window-like opening.

3. A combined folding fan and advertising device according to claim 1 and in which said pivot-forming means and said fastening means are located along the vertical axis of symmetry of said front panel near the one-fourth and one-half elevation points therealong, respectively.

4. A combined folding fan and advertising device according to claim 3 and in which said window-like opening lies symmetrically astride said vertical axis and between said pivot-forming means and said fastening means.

5. A combined fan and advertising device, comprising: a central body portion having two superimposed parallel panels, one of which has a window opening centrally located. therein, a plurality of relatively movable panels pivotally fastened to and movable between said parallel panels, each of said panels being movable from a position at least partially closing said opening to another position substantially fully removed from said window opening, whereby by selectively moving none, the left, the right, or both of said swingable panels four different messages can be presented in said window-like opening.

6. A combined fan and advertising device according to claim 5 and in which said movable panels are of a size and shape to be substantially fully covered by said body portion in their maximum window-closing positions and to substantially double the area of said fan when moved to their window-opening, positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS i t I i i 

